Research Paper

Liming Huang

English 120

Prof. Breech

2 December 2014

Femininity and Masculinity

Susan B. Anthony once said, “The girl who is able to earn her own living and pay her own way should be as happy as anybody on earth. The sense of independence and security is very sweet”. This could be explained as follows: society should give women the rights that men retain. Women contribute to the society like men do, so society should not possess the belief of social categories. No one person is better than the next. After the 19th Amendment was signed on August 18, 1920, women’s roles and expectations were viewed differently in the U.S. They could take the jobs that were once prohibited to female before. In other words, society has widened its view about masculinity and femininity. Throughout American history, the meaning of masculinity and femininity has been continuously reshaped by changing economic and social institutions. In the colonial era, women supported the family domestically while men were out hunting food for the family. Sex was usually initiated by man because the man’s wishes were what counted. Sexuality means reproduction during that time period. Because of the scarcity of laborers, women usually have eight to twelve children averagely in their lifetime, so fostering the children and taking care of the house became their life-time job. However, gender roles have changed after women got their right to vote in 1920. Women became independent, and they no longer rely on men to live. They could do most of the things by themselves. However, many women do not consider procreation is their only role anymore; there are more fun things to do than having a baby. In addition, women were no longer stereotyped as workers in the kitchen. Women are getting good education, and becoming experts in many professional fields.  And men were not expected to work outside anymore; some of them are willing to give up their jobs and decide to dedicate themselves to the family domestically. It is very hard to specify what should be men’s jobs and women’s nowadays. Western society has grown less narrow in its view of what is masculine and what is feminine in the aspects of social expectations about behavior, martial and familial roles, and education and occupation.

Society has widened its view on what is masculine and feminine about sex; it is no longer considered contemptuous when women ask for sex. Fredric Neuman stated that “there used to be relatively clear-cut attitudes about sex. The man’s wishes were what counted” (3). It was expected that men should take the lead in initiating sex, since men were usually the ones in charge. However, the misconception that women would not aggress against men is revoked as time goes by. In Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies, Anderson reveals that “the traditional dating script is eroding and that women now commonly initiate sexual activity using both positive and negative strategies" (11). In an once male-dominated society, women were supposed to be passive, and let men have the control. Men were usually the ones that ask the female out, initiate sex, and propose marriage; it seems like men are initiating everything in a relationship. Nevertheless, women are becoming more aggressive nowadays. Women are no longer ashamed when asking for sex from the guys. They are willing to, or moreover they do not mind putting away their pride and reputation to fulfill their need of lust. Moreover, the idea in equality between men and women has spread rapidly throughout times. If men and women need to share labors and responsibilities equally in our community, then women are capable in doing men’s tasks, including being aggressive in a relationship. This shows that society views masculinity and femininity more widely than before, because gender roles were no longer concerned conservatively. Gender does not determine people’s duties in life anymore.

The view of what it means to be masculine or feminine in marital and familial roles has been broadened, because women now are no longer viewed as babysitters; they have the ability to take care the whole family. For instance, in “A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles,” M.P.  Dunleavey states that because she earns more than her husband, she asked her husband to quit his job to take care of their baby and she would continue to work. She did not think she would feel guilty in her womanly duties, since “a 2003 survey by the bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that about a third of wives earned more than their husband. And about 43 percent of household income overall was earned by women” (1). This means that women’s role in western society was no longer solely based on reproduction. Nowadays, women and men share work equally in the household. And sometimes when men are not making enough money for the family, women who are highly educated step out and work for the family. And this circumstance is not weird or uncomfortable in the twenty-first century. Studies show that many families have accepted this way of living.  This conveys that society has widened the view of masculinity and femininity in marital and familial roles since society is quite comfortable with a single-income household where the single earner is a woman. Men are willing to stay home and take care of the children while women are responsible for the bills. It was nothing bad about changing the gender roles in this situation, because they are still supporting the family equally, but in reverse ways.

Furthermore, society has widened the view of what is masculine and feminine in the field of education and professions, because women now are getting jobs that they were not likely to have before. For example, in “They Call It the Reverse Gender Gap,” Luisita Lopez Torregrosa states that women “are marrying later and later… [And] women are ahead of men in education” (1). A study shows that single and childless women who are under thirty years old are making an average of eight percent more money than their male counterparts. Moreover, even “in some countries that we think of as socially conservative… women earn more than half of all science degrees” according to Nancy Folbre (2). This means that women no longer need to rely on men. Most women nowadays have higher education than men, and thus earn more than them. And they no longer need husbands to have children because some of them do not want kids. This so called “reverse gender gap” has increasingly appeared in the society, and sometimes undermines relationship between men and women. Because men often have a sense of esteem, of identity that comes with being the provider, some women would lie about their well paying jobs when they first meet in order to protect the men’s self-esteem. The gender roles is reversing; it was usually the men who protect the women, but nowadays women need to lie about themselves to protect men’s feeling. This shows that the view of what is masculine and feminine in the field of education and occupation has broadened because women are no longer limited to certain jobs. They now could have the jobs that were once male-dominated such as doctors and lawyers. In addition, women are getting paid almost as much or sometimes more than men and women are the ones who have children and who care for children. And women could have baby by themselves as the new reproductive technologies-such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization-advanced, people sometimes question “what’s there for men to do”?

My opponent would argue that society does not widen their view on what is masculine and feminine, because society stereotypes suggest that men are usually tough and women are tender. For example, in “Our Perceptions of Masculinity and Femininity Are Swayed by Our Sense of Touch,” it is suggested that the “feeling of handling something hard or soft can influence how you visually perceive a face” (1). Therefore, they start an experiment to test out whether the concept is true. In the experiment, people were given either a hard or soft ball to hold, and they were told to squeeze it while looking at pictures of faces that had been made to look exactly gender-neutral. The result comes out pretty remarkable: people who were squeezing the soft ball were more likely to judge faces as female, while people who handled the hard ball were more likely to judge them as male. According to them, this means that when people look at a gender-neutral face, they are more likely judge it as male if they are touching something hard because society has shaped that men are supposed to be tough and strong; and they are more likely to categorize it as female when they are touching something soft because women are considered tender or soft in our society. This experiment also reveals that social categories are not only established by the society, but they are carried in the body. My opponents suggest that society has narrowed its opinion about what is masculine and feminine, because social categories appear in our community increasingly. Society has taught people through school, media and fairy tales that men need to be strong to be the protector, and women have to be elegant and tender to be the better wife and children raisers. This kind of information has been inserted deep inside people’s genes by the way how society portrayed sexuality and gender roles ; there might be some exception, but females are still the one who takes care of children and family, and men are working hard to be the protector and provider of the family, no matter how time is changing.

However, my opponent is incorrect because society does widen the view of masculinity and femininity, because women can be very tough, and their motivation can sometimes change men’s decision. For example, in Macbeth, when Macbeth knew that Duncan made Malcolm the Prince of Cumberland, he sees Malcolm an obstacles which lies in his way of becoming the King. He then acquired the star “hide [the] fires; let not light see [his] black and deep desires” (ACT1. SC 4). Since then, his ambition became greater and greater. Authority seems to be the most important thing to him in his life. However, his ambition had not been strong enough to kill Duncan until Lady Macbeth comes in to play. She provided a scheme and motivated Macbeth to murder King Duncan. She also challenged Macbeth, “when you durst do it, then you were a men… screw your courage to sticking place and we’ll not fail” (ACT1. SC 7). Here, we could see that Lady Macbeth plays a very significant role in the event; if not for Lady Macbeth, Macbeth’s ambition would not grow intensified enough to make him to maintain his title of king. It is suggested that women’s ambition sometimes is much greater than the men’s. You should never underestimate women because they are willing to do everything to get what they want. In this case, Lady Macbeth devoted her mercy and personality in order to make her husband the king. In addition, it was her motivation led to Macbeth’s decision of getting the crown. This shows that society has not narrowed down its view of what is masculine and feminine, because females were not considered weak and frail during Shakespeare’s time, neither now. Women had evolved a lot more intense nowadays. They are becoming more daring, courageous, and sometimes more vigilant than men. The percentage of female police has increased. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 2007, about 1 in 8 local police officers were women, compared to 1 in 13 in 1987.

Moreover, my opponent would also argue that society has not widened its opinion on what is masculine and feminine, because society has put a strict definition on appearance of both masculinity and femininity. In fact, in “Clothes Make the Man: The Male Artist as a Performative Function”, Jones stated that “clothes, in fact, though seemingly mere extraneous appendages, have entered into the very core of our existence as social beings” (18). According to them, this means that clothes have become an essential thing to look at when defining sexual identity. People often relate pink dress to girl, and blue shirt to boy. If a boy is asking to wear a pink dress, his parents would automatically think that his son has an issue, and would take him to the doctor’s; because the boy is not supposed to wear a feminine color according to the society expectation. In addition, in “Only Girl Wear Barrettes: Dress and Appearance standards, community Norms, and Workplace Equality”, Bartlett stated that employers required women “to wear skirts … or to wear makeup…Men, in turn, may be required to wear ties or to keep their hair cut short” (2543-2544). They may be fired if they violate the rules. Again, this means that we still live in a society with strict gender roles. There are certain rules that limit the things whether women or men should do. Although the example above occurs in workplace, it would be considered elegant if women wear dress, speak in a lower voice, and not to argue with men. In contrast, men would be considered attractive if they are muscular, strong, and able to protect the women. Indirectly, society had categorized people into two types: male and female.  They suggested that society has narrowed its opinion about what is masculine and feminine, because society still has restrictions when it comes to sexual identity. A man with long hair and make-up would be considered weird and not acceptable, because most of the males in society do not have long hair and make-up. Society had established a standard in classifying masculinity and femininity, and people beyond the standard will be judged.

Nevertheless, my opponent is wrong because living in social norms does not enhance a person; instead, it deprives the person from the right of being his/her identity. For example, in “Unseemly Dissent”, it is stated that people that blame women who “depart from the accepted dress code… actually meant to undermine a woman’s freedom not to conform … for not accepting quietly the provision” made by the society (1223). This means that people who discriminate others based on their outfits are said to be depriving them from the freedom of making their own decisions; people have the right to pick what is the best for them. As long as they are not breaking the law, people should be able to be themselves with no judgments. Clothes mean nothing when describing a person; a person could dress creepy and be a professional. In addition, in “What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?”, a boy facing transgender issue stated that people who come “to school every day in a soccer jersey and sweat pants… but that doesn’t make [them] the professional soccer player[s]” (11). Again, we see how a person’s identity is not based on his/her outside appearance; it does not matter if you dressed like the opposite gender. It is the person’s own hard works and dedication that defines him/her. You could dress professionally every day, but it does not make you an expert of any field. This shows that the society had widened its view on what is masculine and feminine, because people are now aware of that it is wrong to judge people based on the dress code that is formed by the society. People should not have restrictions when choosing the clothes they want to wear. America is a liberal society; people have the right to be themselves and choose their own way of living. Besides, people are not defined completely by the physical appearance and outfits, so why we bother dressing like what the society norm want us to be.

Western society has grown less narrow in its view of what is masculine and what is feminine in the aspects of social expectations about behavior, marital and familial roles, and education and occupation. Men are no longer expected to be the aggressive one in a relationship. People now think that it does not matter who started the relationship as long as they get the love from each other. And it is usually the mothers stay at home and feed the children while father out working to support the family economically. But nowadays, male would be willing to stay at home to take care the family if their wives earn more than them. In addition, women were not confined to certain job types anymore. Computer science, which is considered male territory, is an ideal field for educated women around the world. These changes all revealed that society has altered its view about masculinity and femininity. The labels for masculinity and femininity before are way different from nowadays’. Gender roles and social expectation of the people have changed due to the changing of economic and social institutions. So next time when you see a guy wearing pink mini-skirt or women with flat-top, do not be surprised or over-reacted because you could never know or expect what others want; perhaps it is just how they want them to be.  

Works Cited

Anderson, Peter B, and Cindy Struckman-Johnson. Sexually Aggressive Women: Current Perspectives and Controversies. New York: Guilford Press, 1998. Print.

Association for Psychological Science. "Our Perceptions of Masculinity and Femininity Swayed by our Sense of Touch." ScienceDaily. 12 January 2011. Web. 30 November 2014

Bartlett,  Katharine T.  “Only Girls Wear Barrettes: Dress and Appearance Standards, Community Norms, and Workplace Equality” Michigan Law Review, Vol. 92, No. 8, Symposium: Visions of Equality: The Future of Title VII (Aug., 1994), pp. 2541-2582 Web. 30 November 2014

Dunleavey, M.P. “A Breadwinner Rethinks Gender Roles.” The New York Times. 27 January 2007. Web 30 November 2014

Folbre, Nancy “The Future of the Gender Bend.” The New York Times. 1 April 2013. Web. 30 November 2014

Jones, Amelia. “'Clothes Make the Man': The Male Artist as a Performative Function” Oxford Art Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2 (1995), pp. 18-32. Web. 30 November 2014

Neuman, Fredric. “Changing Gender Roles in Marriage.” Psychology Today. 4 January 2013 Web. 30 November 2014

Padawer, Ruth. "What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?” The New York Times. 8 August 2012. Web. 30 November 2014

Shakespeare, William. Macbeth New York: Washington Press, 1992. Print

Torregrosa, Luisita L. “They Call It the Reverse Gender Gap.” The New York Times. 13 December 2011. Web. 30 November 2014

“Unseemly Dissent” Economic and Political Weekly, 32.22 (May 31 - Jun. 6, 1997): 1223-1224. Web. 30 November 2014